A Scottish cathedral is to feature on one of Royal Mail’s 2024 Christmas stamps.
Royal Mail has announced that an original illustration of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh will feature on the Second Class stamp for its Christmas Special Stamps in 2024.
Royal Mail’s 2024 Christmas stamps feature some of the many spectacular cathedrals in the UK, with the remaining four completing the set being Liverpool, Armagh, Bangor and Westminster.
The stamps were illustrated by Penzance-based, British artist, Judy Joel, whose popular paintings have been sold worldwide over the last 50 years.
READ MORE:
Lockerbie memorial church honoured at the ‘BAFTAs for churches’
Organist in last-ditch bid to save 'unique' city church
The Very Revd John Conway, Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, said: “It is an honour for our wonderful Cathedral to feature on the stamp this Christmas. George Gilbert Scott’s magnificent building continues to inspire and amaze its many visitors, as well as those who are fortunate to call it their spiritual home.
"Cathedrals are never more alive than at Christmas, and the painting featured on the stamp conjures those special moments. We look forward to welcoming the people of Edinburgh and beyond, to our celebrations once again this Christmas.”
David Gold, Director of External Affairs and Policy at Royal Mail, said: “We are delighted that St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, features on our Special Christmas Second Class stamp. Cathedrals are a hugely significant part of our cultural heritage and play an important role in local communities.
"They also offer space for peaceful reflection and a bit of an escape from the challenges of daily life, which can be especially important at Christmas.”
George Gilbert Scott’s neo-Gothic design was the winner of an architectural competition for a new cathedral, and St Mary’s was built in the West End of Edinburgh’s New Town between 1874 and 1879.
From the floor to the tip of its imposing central spire, it is the tallest building in Edinburgh and one of three cathedrals in the city, alongside the 12th-century St Giles Cathedral (now Church of Scotland) and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Mary’s.
Since its earliest days, St Mary’s has been synonymous with a vibrant choral tradition, and today it remains the only place in Scotland to hold regular mid-week and Sunday choral services. It is open every day as a place of prayer, sanctuary, peace and silence.
To celebrate the new millennium, the renowned Edinburgh artist Eduardo Paolozzi was commissioned to design a new stained-glass window for the South Transept. This is Paolozzi’s only work in stained glass and on sunny days it produces a wonderfully colourful dappling effect in the interior.
The cathedral is at the heart of Edinburgh’s Christmas celebrations, with the Services of Nine Lessons and Carols attracting over a thousand people on 22 and 24 December, and many other services and events celebrating the birth of Christ.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here